Je t'aime
by I-ain't-kawaii
Summary: Just a short and sweet little story. Honestly, if this isn't fluff, I don't know what is.
1. Chapter 1

"Hey Jean!" called Marco as he scampered up to his fellow soldier like an excited puppy might to its master.

"Uh, hey, what's got you so excited?" Jean couldn't help but be thrown off by just how adorable Marco looked. Running up to him, freckles sparkling in the sunlight. Wait, do freckles sparkle? They do when they're on Marco.

"So Jean, I was talking to Armin before and he was telling me all about the world outside the walls! He has this big book about everything, and his parents taught him all this stuff too, and…"

Truth be told, Jean was hardly paying any attention to the words coming out of Marco's mouth. _Something about talking to his parents or getting his arm in a book, right?_ It didn't matter a bit what he was saying though. Lately, all Jean really cared about when it came to Marco was just being near the guy.

"…and Jean, the outside world seems awesome, right? There used to be these things called countries! They're almost like the three walls, but there were way more and they could be huge! Some could be hundreds of times larger than Wall Maria! Can you imagine that? And all these countries had their own languages too!"

"Ah, yeah, really? You don't say?" replied Jean who had no clue what the hell Marco was going on about.

"But Jean that's where you come in!"

"Huh?"

"The different languages and things, Armin said that you know one of them! He said you have ancestors from a place called Frence or Franch or something like that!"

Finally in tune with the conversation Jean let out a laugh at Marco's adorable mistake. "Ah, I think you mean _France_."

"Oh yeah, that's what it's called," said Marco thoughtfully. Then perking up again like a child he asked, "So can you show me how they spoke there?"

"Haha, sure, my dad taught me when I was younger, and I think I still remember it. My family's been so diligent about keeping that part of our history alive. God, I wonder how many years it's been since this language has been spoken by more than just the Kirstein family..."

"Well can you teach me some?"

"I don't know, you're not actually part of the Kirstein family, Marco," joked Jean. It's not as if he _wanted_ Marco to be a part of his family, right? Pfft, how would that even happen? Would he marry Marco? What a thought! Marco Kirstein. That idea didn't make Jean feel the _slightest_ bit of unrelenting joy or giddiness. Or so he lied to himself.

"Oh come on Jean, just one phrase?"

"Well, okay. How about…" Jean thought for a moment trying to remember his stupid French lessons that he always found so tedious. Suddenly the perfect phrase came to mind. "How about, 'Je t'aime'?"

"Gu-ge-ja time?"

"No, je like in Jean and t'aime."

"Je t'aime!"

"Et je t'aime aussi, mom petit lapin."

"What does je t'aime mean though?"

Jean froze. He hadn't expected that to come up. Thankfully, when it comes to shitty excuses, Jean Kirstein is the king! "Um, it doesn't really translate well…it's just something that, uh, best buds like you and me say!"

"Oh, okay! Can I say it to the others as well?"

"No," he almost yelled. Then realizing his overreaction by the surprised look on Marco's face Jean tried to correct his outburst with a forced smile and a laugh, "haha, I mean, no, just say it to me, okay. And you better never say it to that Jäeger kid, got it?"

Grinning like the freckled angel he is, Marco replied, "Okay! Oh and Jean, je t'aime!"

"Je t'aime."

"Je t'aime!"

"Je t'aime."

And, predictably that continued for the rest of the afternoon. Meanwhile, within earshot of those two was another Frenchman with his petit lapin.

"Hey Levi, aren't you Franch too?"

"It's pronounced _French_, sale gosse."

"Oh… So do you know what je t'aime means?"

"Um, it's something that a solider says to his corporal."

"Really? Nobody else ever says that to you."

"Well, only certain soldiers say it. So for instance, only you can say it to me, got it?"

"Yes sir!" said Eren banging his fist against his chest in a salute, "er, I mean, je' t'aime, sir!"

Levi stared at the boy for a long moment unsure whether he should be baffled by his stupidity or overwhelmed by his cuteness before finally replying, "we'll work on that later." Then saying under his breath, "maybe I can teach you some _other_ French things as well…"

"What was that corporal?"

"Je t'aime."

"Je t'aime!"

Translations:

Je t'aime – I love you

Petit lapin – little bunny (term of endearment)

Sale gosse - brat


	2. Chapter 2

Writer's Note:

Hello, dear readers. I am _SO_ sorry for everybody who I've kept waiting for the part 2 of this fanfic. I know I said months ago to some people that the second chapter would be out "soon" but soon was a bit of an exaggeration as it turns out. Again, I'm so sorry. Hopefully this will be worth the wait.

"Alright, trainees! As we are all aware, Corporal Rivaille has been visiting for the past few days to observe your improvement as the protectors of humanity!" announced Shadis to the 104th trainee squadron. "And as you should all know, today is cleaning day, so everyone better complete their jobs efficiently and completely so you can prove yourself to your superior, understood?"

"Yes, sir!" came the unison response.

"And if there is _any_ slacking or mischief you will be dealt with personally," added Shadis. He walked back to where Levi stood observing. The corporal then stepped forward, making eye contact with those who he suspected of goofing off. Although he had been there less than a week, he had already recognized the troublemakers of the regiment. "Well, Connie, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!"

"And you, Braus? I heard there were some – shenanigans last time the two of you were assigned kitchen duty."

Several trainees held in their laugher at the memory of Sasha and Connie's kitchen incident, but the glare of intense, steely eyes immediately silenced any outbursts.

"Braus. _Are _we clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

"And, Eren..." drawled out Levi as he approached the last trainee of the first line. "Do you promise to behave yourself too? I'd really hate to see the kind of punishment your commander has in store for troublesome trainees. Got it?"

"Je t'aime!"

A smirk played on the corporal's lips. "Très bien." Abruptly, Levi then turned his back to the trainees to face Shadis. "I'll leave the rest to you, Keith."

Nodding, Shadis began shooting out names for each cleaning pair, and soon the line of trainees had thinned out to four.

"Ackerman with Bodt, and Jäeger with Kirstein. Grab your shit and get cleaning!"

Eren glared up at Shadis upon hearing the name of his partner. _Jean _Kirstein? There was no way he would work with _that _jerk.

However Shadis had not noticed Eren's scowl and walked off, while Levi saw it clear as day. And for him, there was no other choice but to approach the boy and deal with him accordingly.

"Weren't you taught that it's impolite to glare, Jäeger?"

"I was taught to fight."

"Hmm…interesting comeback… But that's not the point. The point _is_ that you and horsefa – ahem – _Jean_ work together. Okay?

"Yes, sir," replied Jean.

"Je t'aime," grumbled Eren.

"jeAN! HOLD THAT LADDER STEADY OR I SWEAR I'LL MAKE SURE TO FALL RIGHT ON YOUR STUPID FACE. ARE YOU EVEN PAYING ATTENTION DOWN THERE?!"

"Calm it, Jäeger, I'm thinking!"

"About what?! We're supposed to be work- "

"Where did you learn 'je t'aime' from?"

"That's what you're so deep in thought about?!"

"Well tell me! Did Marco say it to you?!"

"No why would he? I over heard you two saying it and Corporal told me it was a military salute sort of thing."

"A military salute?"

"Yeah, so why the hell were you and Marco going on saying that? You're hardly any kind of position of authority. Unless king of the assholes counts..."

"King of the assholes?! I'll show you who – wait. You think 'je t'aime' is a _military salute_?"

Eren climbed down the ladder sure that at this rate Jean would push him off.

"Yeah, that's what Corporal said, and unlike you, only _I am_ allowed to say it to him. Jealous, Horseface?"

Eren smiled in what he thought was victory until Jean burst out with laughter.

"Bahahhahaa, well, maybe I would be jealous of you! That is if I _looooved_ Corporal! Haha, I always knew there was something going on between you two, I mean why else would he always have his eyes on you like you were some kind of prey?"

Eren's stomach dropped and a hot blush rose to his face. For the first time since he met Jean he didn't have a single comeback to shoot back at him. All he could manage was to ask, "W-what does 'je t'aime' mean exactly...?"

Jean clasped Eren's shoulder. "Well if you must know, mon ami, it means 'I love you' in me and Corporal's native language."

Eren's face burned a bit hotter. "Guh – y-you're kidding, right?"

"Would I ever kid you?"

Eren looked bluntly at Jean. "I'm not going to answer that. And get your stupid _hooves_ off my shoulder! I'll ask Corporal for myself about this!"

"Hm, well good luck with that, lover-boy. You gonna ask him now, or are you just bluffing? Because, you know, _I_ don't think you'll really do it."

"YOU KNOW WHAT, I'LL ASK HIM RIGHT NOW. CLEAN THE DAMN WINDOWS YOURSELF, FRENCHY."

Jean watched Eren run off and chuckled to himself. "What an idiot… I have to see this train-wreck play out for myself." And with that he left the ladder and wash bucket behind and followed after Eren.

Meanwhile…

"So, ah, Mikasa…we don't get to talk very much."

"No. We don't. Mop over here."

"Oh, okay. But, uh, I was thinking we could get to know each other better. After all, we're suppose to be like a team, righ-"

"You missed a spot."

"Pardon?"

"Focus a bit less on the chatter and more on working."

"Oh, sure. But as I was saying – "

"Wait, is that Eren running over there?"

"Yeah it is… And it looks like Jean is following after him."

Mikasa turned to Marco with her usual expression of concern that comes out whenever Eren is involved. "Do you think he's in trouble?"

"Well I don't – "

"I'm going to help him." And with that she took off at a deadly sprint.

Marco, however still stood there, mop in hand, watching her grow smaller in the distance. "Um, do you want me to tag along too?" he asked mostly to himself. He looked around as he tried to make up his mind. "Maybe Jean will need me..." was the excuse he finally came up with before following the others, the mop still in his grasp.

Meanwhile…

"Do you want to know what I love about observing the trainee squad, Shadis?" asked Levi as he took a sip of tea.

"What?" came the reply.

"Absolutely nothing. It pains me to think that some of these brats will be part of the Survey Corps… Honestly, why can't Erwin be the one to does these check-ins with the trainees?

"Maybe he thinks the trainees look up to you. Even I was impressed the first time I met you. After all, you are the prestigious – "

"Corporal Levi!" called a voice accompanied by a door rattling open.

"The hell was that!?" Levi slammed his teacup down and turned to the direction of the noise. It was one of the trainees. The one with the interesting green eyes.

"Jäeger! What in the name of Sina are you doing here?!" barked Shadis.

"Please, Keith, leave this to me," objected Levi to the trainee commander. "Jäeger, what the fuck are you doing here!?"

"Corporal," Eren gasped again, out of breath after running to the other side of the camp. "Um, I have a question…"

"This must be a pretty important question if you're skipping out on your cleaning duties to ask me," countered Levi with a cold tone.

Suddenly Eren found himself questioning his reasoning for going through all this trouble. "Well, I was going to ask – "

"Eren, what's wrong?" demanded Mikasa who had just burst through the door.

"Mikasa?" exclaimed Eren.

"Jean!" exclaimed another voice.

"Marco?" questioned Mikasa, "Jean?" turning to see her cleaning partner and the trainee he had been following.

"Marco!" snapped Jean at Marco causing his eavesdropping to be discovered.

"Jean," growled Eren.

"Eren," smirked Jean.

"EVERYBODY," yelled Levi, "Does anyone care to explain what's going on, and stop WASTING MY TIME?"

"Yes," said Eren stepping up. "Can you please settle this by telling me the true meaning of 'je t'aime'?"

For once Levi showed a small hint of surprise. He hadn't expected Eren to catch on to his little lie so quickly, nor was he prepared for it to be caught in a room full of people. Unfortunately, he was unable dismiss the trainees back their workstations and avoid this ordeal because a certain freckled boy had to speak up and mess everybody up.

"Je t'aime? That means 'I love you'," stated Marco, who if anyone is interested, was in fact still holding the mop.

An air of surprise took over the whole room, but no one was as surprised as Jean.

"WAIT A MINUTE, YOU KNEW IT MEANT THAT THE ENTIRE TIME!?"

"I'm not stupid, Jean, and neither is Armin. He picked up a bit of Franch and taught me that before I even asked you."

By that point Jean was a confused, blushing, stuttering mess.

"S-so, you l-like m-… W-we need to go tal-… J-just come with me!"

And with that Jean grabbed Marco by the mop and dragged the devious, little angel off to who knows where to do who knows what. I don't even know where and what they went to do, and I'm the third person omniscient point of view. Though I can say there were most likely some adorable confessions and perhaps even a few spicy moments. But what do I know; I'm just the third person omniscient point of view.

Corporal cleared his throat, bringing the room's attention back to him. "Perhaps, Eren," he said fixing his gaze solely on him, "the two of us should also talk in private."

Eren licked his lips nervously and followed after Levi. He could feel the cautioning stare of Mikasa boring through him, warning him not to walk into such a dangerous situation. However, he ignored the warning, for despite the uneasiness sitting at the pit of his stomach, he could not deny the excitement rising through his veins. If 'je t'aime' truly meant 'I love you', then that would mean that the corporal had taught Eren, not to salute to him, but to confess his affection for him. In fact, Levi had said those very words back to him!

In the midst of all these thoughts, Eren was barely conscious that he had been lead from the commander's quarters down to the adjacent mess hall. He was able to shake himself out of his thoughts just in time to realize the sharp turn made by Levi, leading them around to the side of the wooden building, which was concealed by the overhand of its front porch.

The moment they were out of plain view Levi turned to Eren and snarled, "Okay, brat listen now and listen good," he grabbed Eren by the front of his jacket and pushed him against the wall, "if I hear one _single_ rumor about this whole 'je t'aime' incident from _anyone_ I swear I will take you out the trainee squad so fast your head will spin.

Eren took a moment to collect himself. Not only had the impact of hitting the wall knocked the wind out of him, but also the sudden venom in Levi's voice. What was happening?

Letting go of his grip on Eren's collar, Levi turned away only to swing around to get right back in Eren's face.

"Do you have any idea of the kinds of repercussions I'd have to face if any of the higher ups were to hear about this? I could be suspended from the Survey Corps for having an inappropriate relationship with a trainee. I couldn't care less about my reputation, but if I were suspended from duty for even a week, the casualty rate for missions outside the wall would skyrocket. Do you even understand the severity of this?"

Eren was still dumbstruck, but he managed to stutter a weak affirmative.

Levi 'hmpf'ed and turned away again to rest a hand on one of the porch's wooden supports. Eren studied him in silence. The only thing that could be heard was the distant call of geese as they flew overhead until Eren finally spoke up.

"Corporal, if there's all these repercussions for you saying, eh, 'je t'aime', to me, then why did you?"

Levi continued to face away from Eren. Moments passed, and the boy began to doubt his question was even heard until Levi finally replied.

"I don't love you."

Eren slumped inward with disappointment. _Of course not, what was I thinking?_

When at last Levi turned he couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow at the deject look on the boy's face.

"Upset, are we?"

Hastily straightening his posture Eren cursed himself for allowing his emotions to poke through, as they tend to do. "N-no, sir."

"Hmm, because you looked awfully depressed about it," Levi said in a cool, mocking tone.

Eren attempted a comeback, but all that he managed were a couple frustrated noises before Levi cut him off.

"Because, you know, that is exactly why I don't 'love' you. Why I don't love anyone for that matter. In the world that we live in, where our lives are so fragile and likely to be cut short, love is a dangerous thing. Especially for a solider," he added looking directly at Eren.

Annoyed by the corporal's cynicism, Eren finally spoke out against him. "So did you just say that to – to make fun of me?! To make me look like an ignorant brat?!"

"You are an ignorant brat," deadpanned Levi. "But, mocking you wasn't exactly my entire reason for saying – that particular phrase. You see, there's love…but there's also amusement. Love can hurt, but there's no harm in having a bit of fun, hmm? I was just – messing with you for my own entertainment. Or perhaps you _do _love me." Levi chuckled harshly. "Though I will admit this much, I do hold a certain amount of…I suppose you could call it 'affection' for you. It would be a shame if you didn't make it to the Survey Corps really. I'd be rather pleased to have you nearby so I could…keep myself busy."

Eren could do nothing but stare in shocked confusion. Moments ago Levi had been warning Eren about the consequences of "inappropriate relationships" with trainees, but now here he was speaking to Eren in a manner that seemed awfully perverse in nature.

Levi smirked at the dumbfounded expression on Eren's face.

"Well, I seemed to have cleared things up between us. Also trust you will speak of this to no one."

Eren nodded.

"Not even that girl who follows you like she owns you?"

Eren shook his head fervently. There was _no way_ he was telling Mikasa about this.

"Good. Now get back to work before I hang you from the watchtower by the butt of your harness."

"Y-yes sir!"

Levi narrowed his eyes. "That's 'je t'aime' to you, solider."

"B-but you said – "

Levi was already walking back to the commander's quarters, causing the boy to falter.

_Ooooh_ the fun he could have with this kid.


End file.
